Books published by John Booth, Duke Street, Portland Place, London, 



GENERAL CONCHOLOGY. 



On the First of June will be published, Price Five Shillings each Number, 



Number 1 and 2, 

 Containing Sixteen Pages of Letter-press, and Five Plates, accurately 

 Drawn and Coloured from Nature, with Scientific Specifications, preceded 

 by Observations on each Genus, of a general Description of Shells, 

 arranged according to the Linnaean System, 



By WILLIAM WOOD, F. R. S. and L. S. &c. 

 The Work will be continued Monthly. 



A few Copies will be printed of a larger Size, in an extra Manner, upon Whatman's 

 super-royal Drawing Paper, for the convenience of Marginal Illustration. Price Seven 

 Shillings per Number. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



Natural History, such as it is considered by systematic authors, consists 

 principally in the knowledge of species. The Botanist becomes acquainted with 

 the different plants, and learns to arrange them by the particular characters 

 which belong to each individual, and by the general relation which they bear to 

 each other. The Ornithologist, the Entomologist, and the Conchologist, by the 

 same means distinguish birds, insects, and shells. To make this knowledge at- 

 tainable, that is, to enable the Naturalist from certain particular characters to 

 distinguish immediately one subject in nature from another, is the only purpose 

 of system. But in nature there is something more to be discovered, something 

 more to be desired, than the knowledge of the mere external form of her pro- 

 ductions. We are taught to believe, that nothing has been formed in vain: it 

 therefore becomes the rational Naturalist, not to confiue himself to the exterior 

 only, but to discover, as far as his ability will permit, the respective habits and 

 faculties of the different animals, and their degrees of utility, either with refer- 

 ence to the general theory of nature, or to those particulars in which they may 

 become serviceable to mankind. It must be confessed, that the superficial exa- 

 mination alone of the works of Nature is delightful ; but when those works are 



